Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), expressed concern over the State Security Service’s (SSS) detention of suspended Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele on Saturday.
After being suspended from his position by President Bola Tinubu on Saturday, Mr. Emefiele was taken into custody by the SSS, the secret police of Nigeria. The Department of State Services (DSS) confirmed the development and said that Mr. Emefiele is currently being held for investigative purposes.
But in a brief statement, he noted that while Mr. Emefiele’s suspension was understandable, the SSS’s confirmation that the CBN governor was in its custody “comes as a shock”
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria questioned what duties the SSS, an organisation whose primary interest is national security, would play in the case given that the CBN’s operations were outside the purview of the agencies involved.
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Why the SSS has the troubled CBN Governor in custody is unknown. The CBN was, however, under investigation, according to a statement made on Friday by the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Recently, there has been tension between Mr. Emefiele and the SSS. In December lasy year, the agency covertly filed a court order to detain the beleaguered governor on charges of “financing terrorism, fraudulent activities, and economic crimes of national security dimension.” The agency had already levelled a torrent of accusations against the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria Governor.
The Federal High Court in Abuja turned down this request, nonetheless, as a result of the secret security unit’s inability to provide enough proof to support the issuance of an arrest warrant for Mr. Emefiele.
